TOPOGRAPHY AND SOIL 



Of Sage's Ravine I will give two comments made by 

 Henry Ward Beecher. "If this were in Colorado a 

 safe path would be cut along the bank and it would be 

 the show place of the region." "Never have I climbed 

 a more wild or beautiful ravine. It is dangerous, too." 

 Those who have followed it to its head, clinging to the 

 roots of trees, along the wall at the foot of the falls, to 

 cross the little side ravine, will appreciate the danger of 

 the climb, but lovers of the beautifully wild will find 

 above the falls even more beauty than below. 



The principal rivers of the county are the Housa- 

 tonic, the Naugatuck, the Shepaug and their tributaries, 

 which drain the county from north to south, and the 

 Farmington and its tributaries on the east. The larger 

 rivers offer many advantages to the manufacturers and 

 have afforded the natural resources for building up 

 prosperous towns and boroughs that have developed a 

 variety of industries. This diversity of industries has 

 had an important bearing on the agricultural develop- 

 ment of the county, for the most prosperous agriculture 

 is always found near good markets. In the past many 

 of the smaller streams afforded power for operating 

 numerous small industries that were closely linked with 

 the agriculture of the county, such as tanneries, woolen 

 mills, wagon shops, cheese-box factories, nail and 

 scythe works and so forth. The concentration of these 

 various industries into big central plants has changed 



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